Study finds portable device useful for quick heart exams

Cardiologist and Scripps Translational Science Institute Director Eric Topol holds the Vscan, a portable ultrasound device made by GE Healthcare that is being studied as an alternative to echocardiograms.
— Howard Lipin

Cardiologist and Scripps Translational Science Institute Director Eric Topol holds the Vscan, a portable ultrasound device made by GE Healthcare that is being studied as an alternative to echocardiograms.
— Howard Lipin

A new study in Scripps Health patients of the Vscan, a pocket-size ultrasound device, showed that the images it produced were as good as those made by a traditional echocardiogram for calculating the volume of blood pumped out of the heart.

That volume, known as the ejection fraction, is an important indicator of heart health. Patients with injured heart muscle have lower ejection fractions and face a higher risk of heart failure.

The study, which appeared Tuesday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, was designed to assess the usefulness of the Vscan in brief exams of patients in hospitals and physician clinics.

The device also produced accurate measurements of the left ventricle in a relaxed state and the volume of fluid surrounding the heart, but it fell short in measuring several other cardiac structures such as the inferior vena cava, the large vein that brings deoxygenated blood into the heart from the lower body.

Though more testing is needed before the Vscan is widely used for measuring heart health, the study provided encouraging evidence of the device’s potential, wrote the researchers from Scripps and the West Wireless Health Institute in La Jolla.

"Pocket echoes used during physical examinations may have the potential to reduce the number of unnecessary echocardiograms," said Dr. Eric Topol, the study's lead investigator and director of the Scrips Translational Science Institute.

An echocardiogram is typically performed in a special laboratory, takes about 45 minutes to complete and can cost more than $1,500, he said.

The Vscan's maker GE Healthcare received clearance in 2009 from the Food and Drug Administration to sell the device in the United States.

The device costs $7,900 to purchase, according to the journal report. Medicare and private insurers currently don't cover the cost of using the device on patients.

In the study, researchers used the Vscan to conduct five-minute heart imaging exams on 97 patients who had been referred for an echocardiogram at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla and Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines.

All of the patients received traditional imaging as well.

The images were interpreted by two experienced echocardiographers and two cardiology fellows.

The study was funded with a National Institutes of Health grant that was awarded to the Scripps institute.

Topol's research team is currently studying whether the Vscan reduces the need for echocardiograms when the portable device is used to examine patients during regular hospital rounds.